Montana - Helena, Montana, elected a refugee from Liberia as Mayor on Tuesday in a tight race in a conservative state with a history of tensions over refugees. Wilmot Collins, who arrived in Helena 23 years ago, unseated the Mayor of 16 years with a progressive message. The Huffington Post and MSNBC have reported that Collins appears to be the first black Mayor in Montana's history. Helena’s elections are nonpartisan, but Collins, a 54-year-old child protection specialist with the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, leans Democrat and has voiced views critical of Donald Trump. The citizens of Helena “are not looking at color, at background and creed,” he told the Huffington Post“The country is still not what Mr. Trump wants it to be.”You can hear more from Collins in the episode of Slate's Placemakers about refugees in Missoula, Montana, from September 2016.

Source: Front Page Africa November 09, 2017 00:22 UTC